CAIRO SPEECH FOLLOW UP: CONSULTATIVE PROCESS FOR MUSLIM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000899

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR S/P GREG BEHRMAN, SCA/PPD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID OEXC OSCI PREL SCUL SOCI TNGD TSPL TI
SUBJECT: CAIRO SPEECH FOLLOW UP: CONSULTATIVE PROCESS FOR MUSLIM
ENGAGEMENT

REF: A) STATE 71325 B) DUSHANBE 724 C) DUSHANBE 831

DUSHANBE 00000899 001.2 OF 002



1. Summary: To share President Obama's vision of partnership and
opportunity here in Tajikistan, we will have to overcome the
country's extreme poverty and isolation. While urban youth and
educated elites were generally receptive to his June 4 speech,
they represent a small minority of Tajiks. Tajik imams from
more isolated areas who had traveled to the United States on an
International Visitor program in May, refused to come to the
embassy to watch the speech, even though they professed
amazement at the freedom to worship they encountered in the
United States. Youth in remote areas are growing up unconnected
to the outside world, some in zones of simmering conflict
between the government and shadowy opposition forces.
Communicating our values to Tajiks, who do not have reliable
electricity, much less Internet access or television, will
require increased and sustained funding for State Department
exchanges that bring people together, and especially English
language programs for disadvantaged youth. The introduction of
a Peace Corps program in Tajikistan, matching the programs which
have been present for many years in neighboring Central Asian
states, would also significant boost people-to-people contacts
in Tajikistan. End summary.




2. The embassy initiated the consultative process on President
Obama's outreach to the Muslim world by inviting an audience of
40 Tajiks to the embassy to view the President's speech live on
June 4, then discussed first impressions (Ref b). Younger
audience members and those who had spent time in the United
States said it was "a first step" that should be matched by a
corresponding gesture from the Muslim side. Audience members
over 40 were skeptical and said that President Obama was keeping
the same anti-Muslim, pro-Israel policies as President Bush.




3. In the weeks following, embassy staff translated the speech
into Tajik and distributed DVD and print copies in Russian and
Tajik to media and academic contacts. State officers and
exchange participants discussed the speech during outreach
events with Tajikistan's Muslims, which account for 97% of the
population.



-- An American Fulbright scholar led discussions in prayer
centers in the Ismaili Muslim community of Khorog to discuss
Muslim relations with the West. She distributed copies of the
speech in Tajik, Russian, and English to attendees at the Friday
prayer services and engaged the attendees in debates about how
to get beyond prejudices that distort the true beliefs of
various faiths.



-- The Information Resource Officer for South and Central Asia
led a Web chat about the speech with youth tuned in from widely
scattered regions of the country - Khujand, Isfara, Khatlon,
Qurghon-Teppa, and Kulyab. He led a separate discussion with
university students and faculty at Qurghon-Teppa State
University. Participants said Obama was the first U.S. President
to speak truthfully about relations between Muslims and the West
and it was time for this kind of gesture to Muslims worldwide.
They said development of deeper understanding would not be easy,
but the speech was a crucial first step. The debate encompassed
the sources of terrorism, the world economic crisis, and life
and study in the U.S.



-- American and Tajik counselors handed out 400 copies of the
speech to participants at 13 USG-sponsored English language
camps: six Access Microscholarship; four Youth Enrichment
Program; one Global Connections and Exchanges; One American
Corner; one Volunteer Service Organization camp for USG alumni.
Twenty merit English teachers selected for a special mentoring
program took copies of the speech for their school districts.




4. We will continue disseminating the speech and IIP
publications like "Obama in His Own Words" in high schools,
universities, American Corners, and NGOs; hosting or sponsoring
debates to engage Muslims at universities, American Corners, and
NGOs; hosting "political plov" meetings with politically active
citizens to discuss issues affecting their communities; host Web
chats for USG-funded and other active Internet nodes.


DUSHANBE 00000899 002.2 OF 002




Scaling up Existing Programs and New Ideas




5. To share the President's vision of partnership and
opportunity more broadly, we will have to overcome Tajikistan's
extreme poverty and isolation. Only a small economic and
political elite can depend on reliable electricity year round,
so we will have to communicate our message through low-tech,
people-to-people contact. The more we can do to bring Tajiks to
the United States, or Americans to Tajikistan, the better.




6. The State Department has a wide variety of effective programs
that need sustained funding. A recent visit by Tajik imams to
the United States (Ref b) showed that some Tajik religious
leaders did not even know that Muslims live in the United
States. Even though they were impressed by the level of
religious freedom in the United States, these same imams later
refused to come to the embassy to view Obama's speech. This is
our baseline as we try to help Tajik religious leaders
understand our values. A second International Visitor program
for imams will take place in May 2010. American Islamic leaders
could also share their experiences in visits to Tajikistan,
through "Citizen Dialogues" or IIP Speaker programs. They could
talk about Muslim life and religious freedom in America at
universities, American Corners, and madrassas in Dushanbe,
Khujand, and other cities.




7. One program that should be expanded and connected to
follow-up programs is the Youth Enrichment Program (YEP) summer
camps to communicate American values directly to marginalized
youth. The first four YEP camps started in Tajikistan in 2008
and were hugely popular - in the conservative Isfara district,
2,600 families applied for 100 spaces. This summer, in addition
to the four YEP camps in Isfara and in the former stronghold of
the Islamist opposition in the Rasht Valley, other USG partners
organized nine more near Dushanbe. The Rasht camps were located
across a mountain pass from an area where government forces are
currently battling militants. The camps' junior high age
participants had no sense of geography, had never met an
American, and many had never celebrated their own birthdays.
They played T-ball for the first time at the camp - with the
rule that the girls HAD to bat or their team would forfeit the
game.



English Language the Key to Communicating Our Message




8. Such children are at risk of being recruited for any future
conflicts, growing up completely shut off from the outside
world. A week-long camp ultimately is unlikely to change any
hearts or minds. If we are serious about communicating with the
Muslim world, we must invest in English language training. The
YEP camps could be formally linked to English language programs,
like the two-year after-school Access Microscholarships.
Besides language skills, English courses pass along our values
and basic education in social sciences and geography. This
requires more funding for the Access program, more English
Language Officers at embassies, more contract English Language
Specialists and English Language Fellows who train local
teachers.




9. Finally, a Peace Corps program in Tajikistan would be a major
addition to our outreach efforts. It would place dynamic,
self-reliant Americans into daily contact with Tajiks in rural
and urban areas, improving the English skills of Tajiks and the
Farsi skills of Americans. Peace Corps operates in the other
post-Soviet Central Asian states, but did not come to Tajikistan
in the 1990s due to the civil war here, and later did not come
because of financial constraints. The Peace Corps belongs in
Tajikistan, and would give a strong push to our efforts to
change attitudes toward the United States.
QUAST